Sizzling summer 2016: 75 days of 90 or above in Palm Beach, Weather Service says

jnelander

Thursday

Jun 8, 2017 at 12:01 AMJun 8, 2017 at 8:35 PM

Irrigation systems in Palm Beach and other coastal communities were put to the test during the summer of 2016. Not only was the season tied for the hottest on record, it was one of the top 20 driest going back to 1889, the National Weather Service reported today.

Palm Beach International Airport recorded a sizzling 75 days of temperatures 90 degrees or higher, close to double the average number of days during the summer months of June, July and August, 41 days. It was the eighth-highest number of 90-plus days on the record books.

The average temperature from June 1-Aug. 31, taking into account the highs and the lows, was 84.8 degrees, 2.4 degrees above average.

PBIA also checked in with 12.81 inches of rain, a 9.20-inch shortfall and the 18th driest on record.

With strong easterly winds blowing off the Atlantic for most of the summer — pushing storms that developed over the interior toward the West Coast — areas like Naples and Immokalee fared much better in terms of the rainfall. Immokalee reported 30.37 inches of rain, 7.44 inches above average and making it the fifth-wettest summer in that part of Collier County.

Note that the September to November long-range forecast from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is calling for more above normal temperatures in South Florida.

“Those looking for relief from the summer-long heat and humidity typically have to wait until early or mid-October for the first noticeable cold front to bring cooler and less humid air into the region, with more substantial cooling of temperatures into the 50s not normally observed until late October or early November,” the Weather Service said in its summer report.

The first sub-60-degree temperature last winter, though, didn’t occur until Jan. 4, when the low hit 57 at PBIA — 58 on the island. It marked the end of an incredible string of 275 days without a temperature below 60. Previously, the latest low temperature below 60 was on Dec. 12.

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(Credit: NHC)

TROPICS TOPICS: Invest 92L appears to be running out of steam in the Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center dropped chances of development to near zero percent over the next five days as it heads toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

In the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands, a tropical wave that just emerged off the coast of Africa was given a 70 percent chance of becoming the next depression, or Tropical Storm Ian, as it moves toward the Central Atlantic. However, forecast models show the low eventually heading north, making it an unlikely threat to the U.S. coast.

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WETTER FORECAST: A trough of low pressure — the tail end of Post-Tropical Storm Hermine — was responsible for dumping 0.35 of an inch of rain Monday at PBIA, but Palm Beach only picked up 0.11 of an inch.

Some areas of Florida’s West Coast, however, picked up 4-5 inches of rain, according to South Florida Water Management data. In Palm Beach, most of the heaviest showers remained off-shore.

The trough kicked up more convection this morning, and rain chances in Palm Beach were still at 60 percent, edging down to 40-50 percent over the latter half of the week.

Easterly winds will keep showers moving in off the Atlantic. “Plenty of available moisture will create a somewhat unsettled pattern in the short term,” NWS forecasters said in their morning analysis from Miami.

PBIA has picked up 1.34 inches of rain so far in September, which is still slightly below normal.